Aram Ghoogasian: USAC must vote ‘yes’ on divestment, consider consequences of inaction

Hundreds of students stood in two rows to voice their opinions on divestment until close to dawn at a student government meeting last February. Now our student government is gearing up for round two. This time the meeting will probably be over before the sun rises Wednesday morning, but tensions will still run high. At […]

Submission: USAC needs to make right choice by voting to divest

Dear Undergraduate Students Association Council, By now, you have had a chance to engage with Palestinian students and Students for Justice in Palestine members through individual meetings, teach-ins, Palestine Awareness Week activities and Monday’s divestment town hall meeting, which was attended by about 100 students. You have learned about the ways in which the University […]

Kunal Patel: California needs to address gap in education opportunity

When I was a first-year, I covered the Occupy protests that shut down Wilshire Boulevard. One of the prevailing themes of those protests was the disparity in the opportunities accessible to different socio-economic classes. I’m reminded of the heated rhetoric of the Occupy protests by information that’s been compiled by the nonpartisan organization Children Now, […]

Chloe Lew: Students studying abroad need hands-on experience to ensure safety

Truth be told, I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I signed up to study abroad this past summer. I didn’t check for travel warnings, and reading the safety guidelines provided by the study abroad office only caused me stress. I barely checked the weather abroad as I packed my bags. […]

Travis Fife: Lack of transparency in proposed tuition plan leaves students in dark

University of California President Janet Napolitano and Gov. Jerry Brown are engaged in a chess match for funding and have taken to using students as pawns. Recent highlights of the match include Brown vetoing $50 million in additional funds for the UC system at the end of September. The UC Regents spent September lobbying for […]

Natalie Delgadillo: UCLA should be upfront, create uniform policy on mental health issues

Next week is mental health awareness week. As universities across the country are navigating a series of crises regarding mental health and higher education – including a loss of funding for mental health resources due to the expiration of Proposition 63 in California and nationwide debate about involuntary psychiatric withdrawal policies – UCLA student government […]

Samah Pirzada: Circle of 6 safety app useful despite rough edges

The Undergraduate Students Association Council Internal Vice President’s office has accomplished a feat in moving a safety application called Circle of 6 to a UCLA-specific app development and marketing development stage. The app could make a huge difference for students in terms of sexual assault prevention and post-assault assistance. To be clear, the app is […]